[color=bdbdbd][center][b][url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/4000207]. J a c k  S l a t e r  ( J u n e ) .[/url][/b]
[color=ffffff].The Sleeping Bear.[/color]
[@Mega Birb] [@MidnightRose][/center]

June awoke to the sound of commotion.

[color=ffffff]"Hm?"[/color]

He cracked open an eye, and tried to make sense of the blurry smudge of color he was looking at. Swirls of brown and black and splotches of grey wobbled in and out of view pressing into each other and intertwining in a kind of slow chaotic dance. He found himself engulfed in a bubble of fuzzy noise, a buzz of indiscernible language of which he could make out nothing. He tried to blink but his half open eye only managed a twitch and when he tried to move... well he didn't try to move at all. Entirely comfortable with the idea that whatever he was trying to perceive made entirely no sense, he was content with letting darkness wrap itself around him like a blanket once more. Sleep beckoned to him and he let slip his mind into the sweet lull of unconsciousness. However...

A sparkle of orange light stabbed him in his eye and the sound of thunder shattered his ear drums. June shot straight up.

[color=ffffff]"The fu-Aachh"[/color] He winched. Whatever confusion, or excitement he had found was cut short by the all too sobering effect of his morning's hangover. A throbbing headache took over his senses immediately and thus began the familiar banging in the space behind his eyes. He pressed a hand to the side of his head and pinned the other against the wood of the bar as he tried to steady himself. [color=ffffff]"Fuck."[/color]

Through the noise of a nights worth of bad decisions and the morning fog of a man not quite built for life on the frontier, he found and focused on the source of his alarm. A pair of bodies on one side of the room, one standing, or leaning, and the other laid prone on the floor, had become everyone's center of attention. The two parties in question were one female and one male. The male was a rather straight forward specimen. A drunkard who'd wandered into the life of the wrong person and had probably spouted a few nonsensical words in their direction. As a result, he'd found his ass on the ground. The woman on the other hand needn't a bar scuffle to receive her share of attention. She was tall, pale... too pale, well trimmed and adorned in a rather attractive corset. Her white hair hung to mid back and seemed not unlike the fog he'd seen rolling off distant hills. Such images were framed and hard to forget and a woman who embodied those images stood out among crowds. However, it wasn't her presentation that pulled at his attention or the words she was mouthing to her drunken friend, it was the fading orange light glimmering across the surface of her pale white skin. He shook his head once, this time blinking rather hard to be sure he was indeed awake. There in the back of his head was the dull sense of regret, a lingering emotion he'd felt everyday when he woke up and realized he was here instead of home.

He was indeed awake.

The series of runic ink markings beneath the lights he'd recognized immediately. His family employed much of the same techniques in various ways and to great effect earning him an education in a subject where vast amounts of knowledge meant absolutely nothing to him. However, to see someone outside his home who could use the magic arts? Something immediately began to click in his head and altogether, a plan he'd been hard pressed to form the past few days stitched itself together in only a handful of seconds. June moved away from the bar and toward her just as she began to move toward the door. He made it all of two steps before an unfamiliar voice called out from behind him.

[color=ffffff]"Jack. Come on man, we go through this every time you walk in here already drunk."[/color]

June froze mid step. Shuffling around with a frown covering his face and his head tilted slightly to one side, he noticed the bartender staring intently at him. He had both his hands on the bar now, towel crushed in one, and two eyes set on himself. The bar keep, having aged rather well and into his 40's with a head of salt and pepper, gave June an expectant look.

[color=ffffff]"What now?"[/color] June asked as he looked about the room in confusion. [color=ffffff]"Walk into a wha-"[/color] His voice  caught in his throat as he immediately recognized the lobby of the Sleeping Bear Inn. There were a number of old, worn, earth stained chairs clustered in the corner. Fresh butt stains from the night before were preserved by the layers of dust that framed them. Tattered and faded carpets covered large portions of wooden floor. The front of the Inn was a simple room with a large window cut out of the front of the building for natural light and a modest setup for the front desk. There in the same room was the small "waiting" area of sorts that lead to... June. Where June stood now doubled as both a small dining room and the limited bar for those guests of the Inn who couldn't be bothered walking a few doors down to the [i]actual[/i] saloon. The Red River Saloon was where anyone and everyone went for food, booze, booty and it was from that very establishment that June had originally stumbled from the night before... and every night before then. He'd meant to get to his room but he hadn't the slightest clue if he'd ever made it there... since his first day in Dust and since every night found himself checking out here with...

[color=ffffff][center][i]...Fuck... Whoooat's his name? It was Jim was it? Jim... Jim something... Jim... Me?...[/i][/center][/color]
[color=ffffff]"Look Jack. You still owe me for the drinks from the night before. It's bad enough you fall asleep here and it takes fuck all to wake you up but I can't have you sleeping here and not paying for the drinks. It's bad for business, it's bad for my bar. I've tried asking your lass but..."[/color]

[color=ffffff][center][i]...Lara...The fuck is Lara?...[/i][/center][/color]
June did a quick scan of the bar but saw nothing. No menacing black hood, no soft white face, no eyes of an ice blue. By now the other female had left as well. He began to chew on his lower lip.

[color=ffffff]"...you first. So that leaves just you."[/color] The bartender said, finishing a rather lengthy retelling of his journey to collecting on June's tab... which no one had bothered to listen to. June simply nodded as he continued to look around, fishing into the coin purse tied to his waste and pulling from it three gold coins... a sum greater than the amount owed. He laid them down on the table.

[color=ffffff]"You are absolutely right."[/color] June began, turning again toward the door. [color=ffffff]"I am so wrong for putting you through all this. Uh... I'll be much be-"[/color] Still looking around, June moved toward the door but mid step his foot caught in the lowest peg of his bar stool. With his leg now stuck and his upper body continuing to move forward, June found himself in a really awkward and entirely unnecessary free fall. He landed hard, expelling air as his chest collided with the ground and gasps from all those around him... and then he shot straight back up. [color=ffffff]"Much better about that in the future. Promise."[/color] June continued as if nothing happened. [color=ffffff]"I'll uh... Thanks Jimmy."[/color]

[color=ffffff]"The name's actually Sco- Forget it."[/color][/color]